FOMO - I absolutely hate this term. I hate it with the passion of a thousand raging suns.
Woah. That was a lot.
Melodrama aside, I think, at its core the only things it breeds is negativity, insecurity, dissatisfaction, discontent and all the other bad stuff that eat you up from the inside. If you FOMO long enough paranoia and obsession starts to creep in. Instead of being happy for others, thoughts about who didn’t invite you, which group chat you’re not a part of and why them instead of you begin to breed in your mind.
To many, this is just a cute little abbreviation to hashtag in a social media comment, similar to #yolo (YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE – DRAKE). But I believe in the power of the words, thoughts and beliefs you allow to enter into your consciousness. I believe that you can manifest what you think and that you are actively being shaped by your thoughts. Anything that doesn’t positively shape you into a better version of you is doing you damage.
I’m not naïve, there are some instances when the FOMO is so real that no amount of repeating your daily mantras about contentment is going to do any ounce of good. Those moments when you’re sitting in your room studying while your friends are out together having a blast. Those moments when you hear someone talk about their plans and you’re waiting for an invitation but it never comes. These are real, deeply felt emotions of disappointment, rejection and disconnection. Valid emotions, worthy of being felt. But consciousness is the process of recognising these emotions and thoughts, thanking them for their service (Marie Kondo style, because you’re still a human and feeling things is a great thing) then casting them into the metaphorical trash bin of your mind.
I’m working on this, aiming and looking towards higher consciousness. I look at it like a muscle – it needs to be worked time and time again in order to function at its peak level. Where ever I am in the moment that FOMO tries to strike, I exercise my consciousness. As I filter out into the trash bin all the yucky stuff that FOMO brings (self-pity, loneliness, jealousy… to name a few more), I filter in as many good things as I can (contentment, gratefulness, optimism).
The process can be long and tiresome but the stakes are too high to allow what FOMO breeds occupy space in my mind. I’m not risking it for the sake of a hashtag. No matter how real the FOMO is.
S.
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